Traditional surgical procedures for pathologies located within the body can cause significant trauma to the intervening tissues. These procedures often require a long incision, extensive muscle stripping, prolonged retraction of tissues, denervation and devascularization of tissue. These procedures can require operating room time of several hours and several weeks of post-operative recovery time due to the destruction of tissue during the surgical procedure. In some cases, these invasive procedures lead to permanent scarring and pain that can be more severe than the pain leading to the surgical intervention.
The development of surgical retractors and techniques that minimize the size of the incision has yielded a major improvement in reducing recovery time and post-operative pain because minimal dissection of tissue, such as muscle tissue, is required and impact on nerve tissue is minimized. For example, minimally invasive surgical techniques are desirable for spinal and neurosurgical applications because of the need for access to locations within the body and the danger of damage to vital intervening tissues. However, visualization of tissue, implants and instruments during surgery from the proximal end of the retractor or from within the retractor can be difficult, particularly when the size of the approach in the patient to the operative site is minimized, or when the procedure occurs at a location deep within the body of the patient. While developments in surgery have provided improved patient outcomes, there remains a need for further developments that facilitate the use of surgical instruments and the surgeon's ability to manipulate instruments and implants in the surgical approach and operative site during the surgery.